15 Days Old – It’s Always Something

As Roseanne Roseannadanna said – “it’s always something”.

You learn something new with each litter, and this one appears to be my Masters level course in dog breeding…

So the puppies had a dose of mild dewormer (pyrantel) yesterday. This morning about 4 am, I was awakened by a puppy crying and crying and crying. I looked into the box to see that little Popcorn was walking around (she is by far the best walker so far, she has almost completely given up walrusing now), walked into a corner and proceeded to poop diarrhea. And then she threw up. Now I have never seen a 2 week old puppy throw up before, and I have to admit I was pretty freaked out, especially when she did it a second and then a third time (once all over her brother Orson). I suctioned her because I was scared she might aspirate the vomit. She was very uncomfortable so I gave her some simethicone (Gas X) and cuddled and comforted her as best I could. She eventually settled down an hour or so later, but I put a message into my repro vet right away.

Turns out my plan was “perfect” per Dr Gray. That plan is: simethicone as needed and a probiotic, which they all have on board now, and monitor them. Odds are she just had a gastrointestinal reaction to the dewormer, which happens (pyrantel is a very benign dewormer, but that doesn’t mean that every single puppy is going to tolerate it perfectly every time, and diarrhea and vomiting afterwards are not uncommon, I’d just never seen it before in such a young puppy). The unfortunate fact is that even if they don’t tolerate it particularly well, it’s still important to deworm them, since worms can weaken and even kill puppies. After talking to Dr Gray though, we decided to just check fecal samples on the puppies in a few weeks and deworm them only if we feel it’s necessary, since I used the 30 day fenbendazole protocol with Zhora, so their worm burden should be very light, if they even have any. I always at least TRY to do the right thing, and the CDC recommendation for deworming puppies is 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks while they’re with the breeder, and then per vet recommendations, and that’s what I’ve always done. We can only kill certain life stages of parasitic worms, and they are at risk of regular exposure to them in the environment, so regular deworming and other parasite prevention is an important part of good dog management.

They’re all a little quiet today, so they’ve all had a dose of a good probiotic (Benebac Plus) and will get another in a week or so. Popcorn (along with everyone else) is nursing well today (we’ve been watching them like hawks), hasn’t vomited since early this morning, and she seems no worse for wear.